Tag: white chocolate

I was recently asked if I would donate some goodies to a fund raising event for a local chapter of The Harry Potter Alliance. Cavendish Brewing Company was hosting a Yule Ball and was interested in treats for their room of requirement as well as pieces for the auction. I couldn’t resist supporting a good cause and coming up with themed bakes!

The process is very straightforward. When boiling and simmering the sugar mixture, be careful as some of it may jump out of the pot and can burn if it gets on you. Another trick I found to help make the process easier was to have the two separate bowls prepped with the chips or chocolate and extracts before starting the sugar mixture. This way you can just pour the heated mixture in straight from the stove without needing to fumble with anything. The fudge came out very soft and does melt in your mouth.

Place a square of parchment paper on the bottom of an 8×8 (or 9×9) inch pan. Coat the pan and paper with cooking spray. Set aside.

Add the butter, evaporated milk, marshmallow creme, and sugar into a saucepan. Use medium heat to bring the ingredients to a nice boil. Stir constantly. Once the mixture starts to boil, set a timer for 7 mins. Stir and simmer for the entire 7 mins. When the timer goes off, remove the pot from the heat. Working quickly, pour 1 cup of the mixture into a bowl. Add the white chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir together until smooth. To the rest of the batch, add the butterscotch chips, rum extract, and butter extract. Stir until the ingredients all combine together.

Pour the butterscotch fudge into the prepared pan. Spread evenly.

To keep the layers separate: Place a layer of wax paper on top of the butterscotch fudge layer. This keeps the two layers from combining. Spread the white chocolate fudge onto the top of the wax paper, edge to edge. Once the white layer is smooth and even, flip the entire layer over so the wax paper is on top. Scrape the fudge off the wax paper using a rubber spatula and smooth out any lumps.

To swirl the layers: skip the wax paper step. Pour the white chocolate fudge directly on top of the butterscotch fudge. As you spread the white fudge evenly across the pan, the fudges will start to swirl together. Run a rubber spatula in “s” shapes across the pan from top to bottom. Turn the pan and repeat. Keep swirling until you achieve a look you find pleasing.

Let the fudge set on a counter overnight. The next day, loosen the edges of the fudge from the pan and flip the pan upside down onto a cutting board. Remove the wax paper. Slice the fudge into the desired serving size. Store in an airtight container.

I finally built up the nerve to try a mirror glaze and I am so glad I did. The recipe for this experiment is from Sugar Geek Show and I definitely recommend it. For the cake, I made a devil’s food box cake replacing the water with milk and oil with butter. After taking the cake out of the oven, I popped it out of the pan and wrapped it several times with plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer for at least an hour. Then, it was time to try for some magic.
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Mirror Glaze

Add the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and the first quantity of water to a medium sauce pan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

While waiting, pour the second quantity of water into the powdered gelatin and mix with a spoon. Leave to fully absorb for a few minutes.

When the sugar, milk, and water mixture begins to simmer, remove from the heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved.

Pour the hot liquid on top of the chocolate and leave to sit for 5 mins to melt.

Use whisk to stir the glaze until the chocolate has completely melted.

Separate the glaze into separate containers (keeping the containers the same type will help keep cooling time around the same. Metal bowls will retain heat resulting in a much longer cool down time). Add desired food coloring to each container of glaze and stir until well-mixed.

Leave the glaze to cool. (Now is a good time to take the cake out of the freezer.) Once the glaze cools to 90F*, pour it over the frozen cake which is on top of a cup or cooling rack which is sitting on a tray lined with plastic wrap to catch the drippings. Transfer the cake to the fridge to set for a few hours before serving.

*94F worked fine for me. I got a bit impatient because I made the metal bowl mistake. To remedy the mistake, I transferred the glaze to a plastic bowl.

Stir cooling glaze when ready to pour to ensure good consistency. If one or more containers of glaze get too cool, you can reheat the glaze in a pan or by using a baking torch and stirring.

I’ve had a stash of macadamia nuts for a few weeks now and had been itching to try a new recipe for white chocolate macadamia cookies. I found a highly-rated recipe on Allrecipes and decided to give it a try. The recipe produced some very tasty and soft cookies. The only tweak I would make next time is using half the salt, but that’s only due to personal preference.
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White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth – about 3 mins. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Mix in chocolate and nuts.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto the prepared sheets. Bake for around 10-12 mins or until golden brown.

I baked some of mine until golden brown and then others I took out as soon as the edges browned. Both bakes turned out soft and tasty, though the ones that were in the oven longer had a bit more of a crunch. Tweak your bake time based on your preference of how you like your cookies.